Documentary Film Company Behind Little Brother and The Double Dutch Divas!, EPIPHANY Inc., Slates New Board, Plans International Multimedia Tour

    NEW YORK, NY, October 03, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- EPIPHANY Inc., an independent film and digital media company, is looking forward to its 15th anniversary in 2014 by announcing its inaugural board of directors and setting plans for the future. The company has produced the documentary favorites The Double Dutch Divas!, Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown, and the interactive multimedia documentary series Little Brother.

"I am thrilled to be naming our first board of directors," said Nicole Franklin, EPIPHANY's President and Senior Producer. "Their expertise and accomplishments will help our expanding company get to the next level. The Board is diverse with members representing all aspects of the film, television and broadband industries, with the right amount of scholars to guide us in community engagement. I also find it beneficial to have a Board that lives outside of New York, covering New Jersey, Maryland and North Carolina with roots in the Midwest, Southwest and the Dakotas."

EPIPHANY was formed in 1999, when Franklin began filming young and more mature female members of the New York City Double Dutch scene. The result was the feature film, I Was Made to Love Her: The Double Dutch Documentary, which aired for two consecutive years on The Sundance Channel. A short -- The Double Dutch Divas! -- followed, featuring women averaging 40 years of age, who had gained international acclaim jumping and performing Double Dutch. Franklin's focus on the African American female experience continues with the latest EPIPHANY project -- BESS -- inspired by the true story of the extraordinary soprano who originated the role in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.

In 2010, Franklin, along with producer Jasmin Tiggett, initiated Little Brother -- a 10-year/10-chapter interactive media documentary featuring young black males aged nine to 13, talking about their thoughts on love. Chapters have been filmed in Camden, NJ, Chicago, IL, St. Petersburg, FL and Muskogee, OK, and are named after titles in black literature. Series outreach has been partially underwritten by the Open Society Foundation/Campaign for Black Male Achievement and fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas. The fourth chapter, featuring young African-Cherokee males in Oklahoma, will be premiering at the 2013 Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival in Brooklyn, NY -- where previous chapters also premiered.

EPIPHANY's fall 2013 not only marks the naming of the new board, but also will include planning for an extensive 2014 tour of film and digital media projects, expanding upon previous presentations on the East Coast and internationally. In addition, the Board will be working to grow EPIPHANY's properties, extending their reach as educational tools for corporations and higher education. And, it will be guiding the production, distribution and marketing of the feature film BESS.

Board members include:
Dr. Linda Caldwell Epps -- President and CEO of 1804. Caldwell Epps has served as President & CEO of The New Jersey Historical Society, Vice President of NJN (New Jersey Network Public Television and Radio), and Vice President/Institutional Relations, Vice President/Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Bloomfield College (NJ). She has served as consultant to many national educational institutions, including The American Association of Colleges and Universities' Ford Foundation-funded diversity initiative, Diversity, Democracy and Liberal Learning project.

Carey Graeber -- President of Great Plains Productions. Graeber is a film producer whose work has been broadcast on MSNBC and PBS. Her clients have included Saint Laurie Merchant Tailors, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the Open Society Institute, Safe Horizon (funded by The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Cases Fund), Walter Reed Medical Center, Detroit Public TV, General Motors, and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. Graeber was President of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT), the preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York City and is currently on its Advisory Council. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Northwestern University School of Communication (New York City).

Detra Thibodeaux -- President and Executive Producer of Rainy Friday Films, Inc. A television and film producer and media consultant with over 40 years of experience. Her award-winning work has been broadcast on television networks, cable, public television and presented in museums and IMAX theatres. Clients have included City Colleges of Chicago, BET, Essence magazine and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Thibodeaux has developed and project managed major museum exhibits, taught television production and directing at Columbia College, and lectured on topics such as "edutainment" at numerous events. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA).

Dr. Ray Winbush -- Director of the Institute for Urban Research at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. Winbush is the author of three books, whose subjects include the healthy rearing of African-American boys and the history of the global struggle for reparations for the European enslavement of Africans.

Keisha Wright -- Founder and CEO of Swoon Beauty, LLC -- an indie beauty company that couples form and function, art and technology, to create beauty tools and body care products that help women's small beauty splurges last longer and work better. Previously, Wright was a marketing executive and worked for iconic entertainment brands such as Macy's Parade & Entertainment Group, the NBA, Nickelodeon and TEEN People.

leslie j. yerman -- Communications and film consultant and photographer. Yerman is a multifaceted professional with over 20 years experience in nonprofit startups and operations and all facets of communications in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. She also provides independent documentary filmmakers and other industry members with marketing/communications, film festival and production consulting. She is Associate Producer of the new documentary short Raquel: a marked woman and former VP/Communications of New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT).

About EPIPHANY Inc.
Founded by Nicole Franklin in 1999, EPIPHANY, Inc. has produced independent films for cable networks including Showtime, BET, IFC, Nickelodeon, The Sundance Channel and Documentary Channel. It is the co-parent of MIDNIGHT MEDIA CAPTURE, LLC, an online web event channel, co-founded by Franklin, combining storytelling and marketing to capture stories and audiences.

EPIPHANY's film team and Board members are available for screenings, discussions and panels.

About Nicole Franklin
Nicole Franklin, originally from St. Louis, MO, prides herself on creative films that portray a realistic and refreshing view of her African American culture. Her credits include The Double Dutch Divas!, Journeys In Black: The Jamie Foxx Biography, Nick Jr.'s Kids Around the World, UrbanErotika: An Odyssey of Eros on Film, Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown and Little Brother. Franklin's 23 years of freelance television credits include work for NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS This Morning and Black Enterprise Business Report. She is a member of Directors Guild of America (DGA), Producers Guild of America (PGA East), IBEW, The Black Documentary Collective (BDC), DV Republic and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT).

About Midnight Media Capture (MMC)
EPIPHANY, Inc. partnered with Giovanna Aguilar's Candesco Productions to co-found the online channel Midnight Media Capture (MMC), LLC, which has highlighted film industry and marketing professionals including Michael Uslan (Executive Producer, Batman), Magnet Media CEO Megan Cunningham, Big Data scientist Marc Vaisman, Q'orianka Kilcher (actress/producer The Power of Few, The New World), CIO of Starlight Runner Entertainment Fabian Nicieza, and comic book historian Arlen Schumer. Its "MMC Presents" has executive produced original content including "Midnight Beats," an online music and cultural exchange broadcast live from Ecuador, "Easy Breezy After Effects," a five-part online tutorial with post-production professional Estefania Szprengiel, and "The Lonette McKee Files" featuring the podcast personal memoirs of the talented entertainer and star.

EPIPHANY Filmography (partial)
BESS (Screenplay)
Little Brother: Things Fall Apart (Distributed by Third World Newsreel, TFI Interactive and Amazon)
Little Brother: The Street (Distributed by Third World Newsreel, TFI Interactive and Amazon)
Little Brother: A Do Right Man (Distributed by Third World Newsreel)
Little Brother: The Fire Next Time (Fall 2013 Premiere)
Mapping Our Pledge to Little Brother (Online Interactive Community)
Gershwin & Bess: A Dialogue with Anne Brown (Distributed by Third World Newsreel)
The Quest for Sugar Hill Golden Ale (Commercial)
Journeys in Black: the Jamie Foxx Biography (BET)
When Sistas Jump (Screenplay)
Harlem Sistas Double Dutch (WNET Reel NY 10th Anniversary Special)
The Double Dutch Divas! (Distributed by Filmakers Library/Alexander Street Press)
I Was Made To Love Her: the Double Dutch Documentary (Distributed by Filmakers Library/Alexander Street Press)

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